Watch winding means



Feb. 23, 1954 c. HILL ETAL WATCH WINDING MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 24, 1951 INVENTOR. CHHRLES H/LL Cf/HBLES K JOHNS B Y I I I c. HILL E TAL WATCH WINDING MEANS Feb. 23, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 24, 1951 F/Gd . INVENTOR5= CHHRLES HILL HHRLES 5 K. JOHNS Feb. 23, 1954 c. HILL ETAL WATCH WINDING MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 24, 1951 IN V EN TOR. CHHRL E5 HILL 3 0mm ES 1r. JOHNS B Y VIIIIIIII Patented Feb. 23, 1954 WATCH WINDING MEANS Charles Hill, Reno, Nev., and Charles K. Johns, New York, N. Y.

Application April 24, 1951, Serial No. 222,699

2 Claims.

, This invention relates to winding means and in particular to the type adapted to be used in watches to protect the same against damage due to excess winding efiort.

A particular object of the invention is to provide means that will guard against overwinding of the watch spring, stripping of the winding gears, excess strain on the main spring, and rupture of the parts involved in the winding action so that the watch is protected and the person winding the same is prevented from cverwinding the same.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in the very small watches used today particularly, a spring tension disk that may be applied to the smallest watches in use and to the crown or winding gears thereof, that is to the main winding wheel, the crown winding wheel or the crown itself. The device of the invention may be applied to watches of any size, that is mens pocket watches, water-resistant watches, self winding timepieces and in general to any spring wound article where it is desired to protect the parts as above set forth.

A still further object of the invention is to h provide a safety device that has a minimum number of parts that can be manufactured as a part of the watch, or as a separate unit and that can be put into the very narrow space allowed in small watches without impairing the efllciency of its operation as a protective-device and one that lends itself to easy and quick adjustment to the parts.

Further objects of the invention provide for the use of a winding disc having a tensioning action that relieves under winding effort and one which may be applied above or beneath either of the winding wheels referred to, and which will provide an audible click to warn that the the parts broken away to disclose the interior construction and the application to the winding wheel of the present invention, v I Figure 2 is a view in perspective of a spring tensionidisk used in connection with the winding wheel of the watch to protect the latter,

Figure 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 showing the relative arrangement of the parts, Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of the mechanism disclosed in Figure 3 showing the positioning of the disk beneath the main winding wheel,

Figure 5 is a plan view of the disk shown in Figure 2, and

Figure 6 is a view in cross section taken through the disk illustrated in Figure 5 showing diagrammatically the action of the disk when relieving the driving tension on the winding wheel to permit the latter to continue to rotate. Figure 7 is a plan view of a watch gear in which a modified construction permits of quick assembly of the parts,

Figure 8 is a section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 7,

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 9-9 of Figure 8,

Figure 10 is a vertical section through a watch crown showing the relation of the parts,

Figure 11 is a bottom plan view of the watch crown shown in Figure 10,

Figure 12 is a plan view of a spring disk,

Figure 13 is an edge View of the disk shown in Figure 12, V

Figure 14 is an edge view of the disk shown in Figure 12 but taken at right angles to the view of Figure 13,

Figure 15 is a side view of a drive disk,

Figure 16 is a bottom plan view of the disk shown in Figure 15,

Figure 17 is a plan view of a closure disk,

Figure 18 is an edge view, partly in section of the closure disk of Figure 17,

Figure 19 is a vertical section through a crown showing the modified form of spring disk, and

Figure 20 is a section on the line 20-40 of Figure 19 showing the crown turned at ninety degrees to the latter.

This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Serial No. 761,956, filed July 18, 1947, for Spring Winding Devices, now abandoned, and a continuation-in-part of application No. 565,312, filed November 27, 1944, now Patent 2,571,878, issued October 16, 1951. Referring to the drawing in detail, 10 indicates watch, which for the purpose of illustration only, is depicted as a mans pocket style watch which includes the usual winding crown mem ber ll, winding stem i2 operated thereby, the bevel gear combination i3 to operate the stud shaft N to which is secured a crown winding pinion l5 meshing with and driving a main winding gear l6 supported on the arbor 11. As shown in Figure 3, the arbor l1 journalled in plate l8 and otherwise mounted in the watch case in the well known manner, passes through a winding drum 20 and has secured thereto one end of a main spring 2 I. The other end of the spring is suitably connected to the periphery of the drum to drive the same so that the gear teeth 22 formed thereon actuate the watch mechanism in the known manner through the associated gearing 23.

The arbor I! in that portion which passes spring is fully wound is produced by the snapping into the seats of the gear of the dimples of the disk so that an audible alarm is given which can be also felt or sensed by the person holding or in contact with the watch.

In the operation of our device, the gears I5 and I6 produce winding motion to turn the disk 25 due to its association under tension with gear so that the arbor I! will wind the spring 2| until it is fully wound. When it is wound, it will offer a resistance that will overcome the tension of the curved side wing portions of the disk through the winding gear I6 may be square or round as desired and the winding gear I6 is provided with a round opening so that it is free to revolve on the arbor at all times. The arbor and the winding gear however will rotate together while the watch is being wound through the medium of a spring tension disk used as awinding medium and indicated as at 25, in Figure 3.

The upper end of the arbor I1. is provided with a screw 23 and protrudes above the upper level of the main winding gear 16 to support on its upper surface the disk 25, which is secured in place by a lock disk and said screw. The lock disk 2! may be dispensed with if desired.

The spring tension disk 25 is circular in shape, although it can be shaped otherwise if deemed necessary, and is provided with a diametrically disposed flat center ridge 28 and downwardly curved lateral portions 29 at opposite sides of the ridge 2B constituting spring or tension wingsor parts that yieldably resist upward flexing movement so that, when the dimples 30 formed therein adjacent the periphery thereof are seated in depressions or dents 3! in the face of the driving gear with which said disk 25 is associated and the main spring of the watch has been fully wound, the resistance of the latter will cause the dimples 30 to leave the seats 3! of the. driving gear to allow the latter to revolve freely without further acting on the main spring.

While we have shown the disk 25 in association with the main winding gear 16 it is to be understood that it could be located on the shaft M in association with the crown winding gear [5. and would serve the purpose equally as well. Also, the upper end of the arbor I! may be round in that portion within the hub of the gear [6 and may be squared to fit into a square hole 32 in disk 25 as indicated in outline in Figure 5. The position of the flexed disk 25 is indicated in Figure 6 where it is shown in relation to the gear with which it is associated, to illustrate its position when the main spring has been fully wound and the gear is free to revolve without producin aspring winding action. The disk 25 may be used in self-winding watches and in any watch having the arbor or shaft indicated.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 4 the spring tension disk 33 is reversed in position so that its dimples 34 engage the pockets 35 in the under side of the main driving gear '36 which is free to rotate on the square end 31 of the arbor 38. W This disk 33 is identical with disk 25. In this adaptation of the disk, the use of a'holding or lock disk such as 21 is not necessary, the disk 33 being held in place by the driving gear which has a round central bore, but is kept on the arbor by the usual screw employed for that purpose.

The number of seats or pockets that may be employed in the driving or winding gears may vary, and in Figure 1, four are shown although any number may be used depending upon "the conditions of-use. Thewarning signal that-the 25 to retention of the dimples in their seats, with the result that they will lift out and free the gear for rotation independently of the winding disk 25,. thus preventing any further winding of the spring or strain on the gear teeth and associated parts that might be damaged if they were not so protected by the action of the disk.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. '7, 8, and 9 which is an improvement on Figs. 13, 14 and.l5 of our application Serial No. 271554, filed May. 18, 1M8, the. face of the gear or spring winding member 45 may support a drive disk 46 which fits over the square shank of an arbor 41 and is recessed to provide spaced peripherally arranged hemispherical seats 48 into which fit the proiected nubs or hemispherical protrusions 49 of a free spring disk 50 having peripheral ears 5! for free engagement with vertical slots 52 formed in the side wall of the'gear 45 as by drilling part of the way into the gear. The disk 50 is of arcuate shape in cross section on a diameter through said ears and is assembled as by flexing so that the cars can be snapped into the slots 52 and thus can turn the disk 50 with the gear, thus eliminating the need for securing the disk to the gear by other fastening means. When the resistance of the spring reaches its wound maximum, the disk 50 yields and the nubs 49 thereof leave their seats and thereafter provide a warning click to notify the person. winding the watch that the spring is properly wound. The disk 50 is arched diametrically to provide a high central part 53 in which the ears 5| are formed and downwardly bowed flanking portions or sides 54 in which the nubsv 49 are formed.

In a form of the invention shown in. Figures 10 to 18 inclusive, a crown Bil constitutes the spring winding member, it being understood that our invention can be used in the gear 45 or inthe crown 50, the latter preferably, because crowns in which our invention is embodied can be readily made up, sold and applied as a separate unit to watches in which it is desired to prevent overwind of the spring by application of our device. The crown 60, like the gear, presents a cavity 6| formed to provide an annular shoulder 62 which is drilled at diametrically opposite sides of the cavity to provide vertical slots 63 in the wall into which extend the projecting'ears 6 formed on the periphery of'a free spring disk-65 when the latteris placed in the cavityof the crown, The spring disk is'a solid member of circular form and of arcuate shape along the diameter thereof passing through said ears 54 so that hemispherical protrusions 65 located at diametrically 0pposite points of the high part of the arched disk may seat in the open ended slots 61 'of a-drive disk 68. The disk 58 has a hub '69 into the threaded pocket 18 of which is screwed the exposed end of the winding shaft H of the watch. When the spring disk 55 is positioned in the crown as shown in Figure 10 it will transmit-the turning movement of the crown "through its ears 84 and protrusions 66 to the drive disk 88 until the spring of the watch is fully wound and the spring disk 65 yields to let the protrusions 68 ride into and out of the slots 61 to provide an audible signal that the watch has been fully wound. The disk 68 is supported in place in the cavity in engagement with disk 65 by a closure ring 69 which is held in place on the annular shoulder 62 by the peened over edge '10 of the crown material and provides a central opening 12 through which the hub 69 extends.

In Figures 19 and 20 the spring disk 63 and the drive disk 68 are held in the crown 60 by a closure ring 13 which is force fitted into the open side of the crown.

Our invention is not to be restricted to the precise details of construction shown since various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention or sacrificing the advantages derived from its use.

What we claim is:

l. A watch crown comprising a hollow crown member having opposed slots in the inner wall thereof, a flexible circular disk arched laterally to provide high and low peripheral points, projecting cars at the low points of the disk resting in the bottom of said slots, rounded protuberances at the high points of said disk, a drive plate positioned over said disk in the hollow of the crown and presenting open ended slots in which said protuberances seat under yielding pressure afforded by the arched shape of said disk, a hub on said plate and a ring plate for closing the open side of the crown and through which said hub protrudes for attachment to the winding stem of a watch.

2. A watch spring winding device comprising a hollow circular winding member presenting an interior annular wall having diametrically opposed slots extending inwardly in said wall from one face of the member, a flexible circular disk closely fitting within the hollow of said member and being arched laterally to provide a pair of opposite high points on the periphery thereof and a pair of opposite 10w points on the periphery thereof, a drive plate positioned in the hollow of said member axially of said disk and presenting radially disposed recesses, ears in one pair of said points extending into said wall slots, protuberances in the other pair of said points for seating in the recesses of said drive plate under yielding pressure afforded by the arched shape of said disk and spring winding means connected to said drive plate and extending out of said winding member.

CHARLES HILL. CHARLES K. JOHNS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 680,067 Phillips Aug. 6, 1901 909,515 Axtell Jan. 12, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 208,577 Switzerland May 1, 1940 251,442 Switzerland Aug. 16, 1948 

